Low Mississippi River Levels Temporarily Stabilize

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ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI)-- Dropping water levels on the Mississippi River have temporarily stabilized Wednesday.

But, they're still expected to be ''too low'' for commercial traffic on the Mississippi within a week to ten days.

Sometime next week, commercial navigation on the Mississippi at St. Louis should start becoming difficult with the shipping channel of 9ft becoming harder to maintain. And despite calls by local politicians for the Army Corps of Engineers to release water from dams upstream on the Missouri River, such a release might not do much good.

The Army Corp says dredging operations will continue and that may keep shipping going on a limited basis. But the corp's chief hydrologist in St. Louis says he isn't sure whether releasing water from the upstream dams on the Missouri River would be a viable solution. Despite that, politicians from our part of the country are urging President Barack Obama to order that water to be released from dams in the Dakotas and Montana.

The Army Corps will be removing some rock and old structures from the Mississippi downriver from St. Louis just north of Cairo, Illinois. But they say that's a minor fix. They do express confidence that they'll be able to keep some shipping moving through constant dredging.